Final chapter for Yes, Prime Minister

Griff Rhys Jones to play Jim Hacker on the London stage

Griff Rhys Jones is to play Jim Hacker in the last ever instalment of Yes, Prime Minister.

The final chapter of the political satire will be playing the West End from January 29 to April 25 next year.

I’m Sorry, Prime Minister was written by Jonathan Lynn – who co-created the original TV comedy with the late Antony Jay – and will also star Clive Francis as Sir Humphrey Appleby.

The play was first produced by the Barn Theatre, Cirencester in 2023 and is set in an Oxford college where the former Prime Minister is now master. However, he faces being cancelled by the college committee so calls on his old Permanent Secretary, Sir Humphrey to help him out.

Lynn, now 82, said of the play: ‘I wanted to write the final chapter about Jim Hacker and Sir Humphrey Appleby, now in their 80s, discarded, ignored, watching today’s world with utter bewilderment. An elegiac play about old age and loss – loss of power, loss of influence, loss of friends, loss of family.

‘The only play I’ve seen on this theme is King Lear. This will be funnier.’

Rhys Jones said: 'I am delighted and honoured to be stepping into the shoes of Jim Hacker in this the final, funny and poignant episode of his long career.

'The great TV series, and latterly the plays, are part of my architecture of British comedy. They have always been the first and last word on the shenanigans that we call politics. Sorry, Prime Minister is as acute and apposite as ever. It will be a hoot.'

Yes Minister ran for 23 episodes on the BBC from 1980 to 1984, followed by 16 of Yes, Prime Minister from 1986 to 1988 with Paul Eddington as the politician and Nigel Hawthorne as the civil servant.

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